{"id":479595,"date":"2026-02-17T01:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479595\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T01:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T01:45:07","slug":"natural-resources-minister-heads-to-poland-to-promote-canadas-nuclear-energy-expertise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479595\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Resources Minister heads to Poland to promote Canada\u2019s nuclear energy expertise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Multiple Canadian nuclear companies are pitching for business in Poland, but Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson is largely there to advocate for Candu Energy Inc.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Ottawa has its eye on Poland as an emerging market for Canada\u2019s nuclear<\/a> expertise, and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson is in the country this week to urge it to adopt Canadian technology for its second nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hodgson\u2019s stop in Warsaw is part of a two-day trip to Europe to promote Canadian energy. He will also represent Canada in Paris at the 2026 International Energy Agency ministerial summit. <\/p>\n

The European visit is taking place at a time of heightened geopolitical instability and a renewed global focus on energy security, and as Canada seeks to diversify its international trade partnerships in the face of continuing hostility from President Donald Trump\u2019s administration. <\/p>\n

\u201cPoland is a rising economy in Europe that has real interests that align with ours on energy transition, and we\u2019re taking advantage of that to build Canada strong,\u201d Mr. Hodgson said in an interview from Warsaw Monday.<\/p>\n

The governments of Poland and Canada have significantly strengthened bilateral ties over the past 12 months as Poland pursues an ambitious nuclear buildout to reduce its dependence on coal and Russian natural gas and strengthen the reliability of its electricity grid. <\/p>\n

Nuclear revival fuels research potential and growth at McMaster University<\/a><\/p>\n

In January, 2025, Canada and Poland signed a Nuclear Co-operation Agreement to foster new company partnerships, explore opportunities around small modular reactors (SMRs) and hold discussions between their respective energy ministries about Poland\u2019s second nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n

Collaboration on nuclear energy was also one of the main pillars in a Canada-Poland strategic partnership, signed in August<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Multiple Canadian nuclear companies are pitching for business in Poland, but Mr. Hodgson is largely there to advocate for Candu Energy Inc.<\/a>, owned by Montreal-based AtkinsR\u00e9alis Group Inc. ATRL-T<\/a> (formerly SNC-Lavalin). <\/p>\n

AtkinsR\u00e9alis is part of a four-company consortium that won a joint contract<\/a> in 2024 to build two nuclear reactors in Romania \u2013 the first new Candu reactors to be built in the world since 2007. The deal was sealed by $3-billion in Canadian export financing, which was provided by the federal government and administered by Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hodgson said Polish officials visited the existing Candu nuclear plant in Romania a couple of weeks ago and were \u201cvery impressed with what they saw.\u201d <\/p>\n

The West wants in on nuclear power plants. Are they ready to buy this time?<\/a><\/p>\n

AtkinsR\u00e9alis\u2019s Pennsylvania-based competitor, Westinghouse Electric Co., has also targeted Poland<\/a>. In 2024, it said it had won a \u201cletter of interest\u201d for up to $2.02-billion in potential financing from EDC to support the sale of goods and services to build what would be Poland\u2019s first nuclear power plant. (Westinghouse is now under Canadian ownership, having been purchased by Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco Corp.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Mr. Hodgson said Canada is \u201cincredibly fortunate\u201d to have multiple companies able to deliver nuclear power solutions to Poland, but he said an AtkinsR\u00e9alis win would be better for Canada. <\/p>\n

Although Westinghouse is Canadian-owned, the technology and intellectual property are controlled by Americans, and its management and supply chain is in the United States, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re the winner, then that\u2019s fine, but we\u2019ll maximize benefit for Canada in the case of Candu, because everything is Canadian,\u201d he said, including the IP and the supply chain. <\/p>\n

\u201cCandu asked us to help them here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think advancing Canadian-owned and Canadian IP technology is something that\u2019s important for Canada, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candu technology also offers advantages to Poland, he said. It\u2019s an approved reactor in Europe, for example, and the company has several new builds and refurbishments that were completed ahead of time and underbudget<\/a>, including the fourth and final refurbished reactor at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ont. <\/p>\n

It also uses unenriched uranium, which negates the need to rely on another country for fuel, thereby boosting national security. <\/p>\n

Asked whether he\u2019s confident that Candu will be chosen for Poland\u2019s second nuclear power plant, Mr. Hodgson said, \u201cI learned a long time ago that you don\u2019t count your chickens before they\u2019re hatched. You go out and play the game the best you can and may the best person win. But we feel pretty good about it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Multiple Canadian nuclear companies are pitching for business in Poland, but Minister of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-479595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-science","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}